1932

Abstract

In recent years, plant virus capsids, the protein shells that form the surface of a typical plant virus particle, have emerged as useful biotemplates for material synthesis. All virus capsids are assembled from virus-coded protein subunits. Many plant viruses assemble capsids with precise 3D structures providing nanoscale architectures that are highly homogeneous and can be produced in large quantities. Capsids are amenable to both genetic and chemical modifications allowing new functions to be incorporated into their structure by design. The three capsid surfaces, the interior surface, the exterior surface, or the interface between coat protein subunits, can be independently functionalized to produce multifunctional biotemplates. In this review, we examine the recent advances in using plant virus capsids as biotemplates for nanomaterials and their potential for applications in nanotechnology, especially medicine.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.phyto.032508.131939
2008-09-08
2024-10-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.phyto.032508.131939
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.phyto.032508.131939
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error